


the edges of you keep me holy

by midheaven



Series: oh, my heart is waking [3]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 07:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19291114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midheaven/pseuds/midheaven
Summary: You know, Jungeun was planning to have a good day. She really was.Or: Jungeun recalls how she fell for the last person she expected.





	the edges of you keep me holy

**Author's Note:**

> at long last, a work for my favourite ship. again, set in the same universe as the previous two, but it doesn't matter that much. this fic was ages in the making, and i'm so glad to finally have it out. this is also self-indulgent delinquent x goody-two-shoes, because it's one of--if not my favourite--ship dynamics ever.
> 
> thanks again to dykes united^tm for tolerating my numerous breakdowns over this fic.
> 
> title from oh wonder

You know, Jungeun was planning to have a good day. She really was.

But then she sees Shin Taewook during lunch and that plan goes down the trash.

She’s shoving him into the wall before she knows it. He’s huge, easily six feet, so Jungeun strains a bit, but she manages.

“What the fuck?” he spits, but then his eyes widen when he sees who’s in front of him. “Kim Jungeun?!”

Jungeun smirks. “Hey there,” she greets. “I heard you had some things to tell Jiwoo last week.”

(Jiwoo had run to her, bawling, because the sad excuse for a human being in front of her apparently cornered her. Scared her about how being with Jungeun was a bad choice, calling her pathetic, telling her she’s ruining her own life, blah blah. Apparently Taewook gets off on making women feel scared and turned into a full on creep on Jiwoo lately. When Jiwoo told Jungeun about it she made Jungeun promise not to do anything, but alas. Old habits die hard.)

“You’re insane,” he counters. He grips onto Jungeun’s arm, hard. Jungeun tries not to wince. “I just talked to her.”

Jungeun shoves him even further. “Try again.”

He scoffs, tightens his hold on Jungeun. _Fuck._ That was gonna bruise. “God, look at you,” he says, “you’re no good for her, you crazy bitch—”

Alright. That’s it.

Jungeun knees him in the stomach. He doubles over, wheezing, and Jungeun takes that chance to release her arm.  When he gets up, Jungeun points a finger between his eyes. “Call me a bitch again.”

“ _Bitch,_ ” he spits, before punching Jungeun in the face.

 _Shit_ , Jungeun thought to herself. Taewook wasn’t physically strong—he’s in the band, plays trumpet—but he’s still huge, so the hit sends Jungeun’s head reeling. She judges at least a broken nose and a split lip, but that’s fine. Nothing she hasn’t handled before.

So of course, she does the logical thing: Punch him back. He doesn’t see it coming, and Jungeun watches as he doubles over again, this time with his hand to his face. Jungeun smirks.

“Kim Jungeun!” she hears a voice call, and that’s her cue.

She turns around, sees that quite a crowd had formed around them. A teacher breaks through—Mr. Go? If Jungeun remembers correctly—and looks at Jungeun with a stern frown and his hands on his hips.

He sighs. “Miss Kim—”

“Got it, sir.” Jungeun gives him a two fingered salute, ignoring the searing pain in her knuckles. She smiles, puts her hands in her pockets, and walks away.

Let’s hope the nurse isn’t too frustrated with Jungeun and still treats her injuries.

 

“Oh, _shit,_ ” Jungeun hisses as she looks at the text she just received. “I’m _fucked._ ”

She’s at the school’s back gate, like she usually is after school—well, this time, after detention—with Jiyoon and Saebyuk, having a drink, because God knows she needs one. She’s still pissed about Taewook and her body hurts, so she figured a few sips wouldn’t hurt. Besides—it was Saebyuk who offered her flask, anyway.

But it doesn’t last long, because Jungeun has to give it back and Saebyuk takes another swig, along with a puff of her own cigarette. “I wish I was fucked,” she tells Jungeun.

“Shut _up_.” Jungeun glares at her. “Jiwoo’s meeting got cancelled. She’s on her way here and wants me to walk her home.”

“Does she know about what you did to Taewook?” Jiyoon asks.

“I don’t know,” comes Jungeun’s reply. She pockets her phone. “We’ll find out soon.”

Jiyoon snickers. Saebyuk asks, “Wait— _walk?_ Didn’t you bring your bike today?”

Jungeun looks longingly at her pride and joy, a Harley her uncle had given her a couple years ago that she’d parked nearby. She sighs. “Yeah, I did.”

“And?”

“ _And_ I’m going to leave it here overnight and come back for it tomorrow,” Jungeun says.

“ _Wah-pow!_ ” Jiyoon exclaims, laughing while gesturing a whip.

Saebyuk, meanwhile, just rolls her eyes. “I _cannot_ be bothered.”

“Well then your wish of getting fucked can stay a wish,” Jungeun says. “No one’s gonna want a mouth that tastes like _that_.”

Jiyoon’s jaw drops before she cackles loudly. Saebyuk flips her off.

Jungeun blows them a kiss, waving her fingers. “Bye, losers.”

 

When Jiwoo sees her, Jungeun stiffens. She doesn’t know whether to expect a scolding or a kiss.

Turns out, Jiwoo simply sighs and walks up to Jungeun. She takes Jungeun’s face in her hands, tilting it from side to side, surveying, and drops her arms to her sides when she’s done. “You’re so reckless, Jungeun-ah,” she exhales.

Jungeun looks down and scratches the back of her neck. “Look, I’m sorry—”

She feels a hand on her shoulder and suddenly the scent of Jiwoo’s shampoo is all around her. Jiwoo kisses her forehead, tells her, “Later. We’ll talk about this at my place.”

Jungeun looks up. “Your place?”

“Yes. We’re going there. You need to clean up and I’ll change your bandages, okay?”

Jungeun can only nod.

Jiwoo takes Jungeun’s (uninjured) hand in hers and starts walking.

 

Jungeun looks at Jiwoo carefully as they walk together, tries to figure out her mood. During the time they’ve been together, Jungeun has slowly figured out how to read Jiwoo, who pretty much wears her heart on her sleeve. But today there’s no crease between her brows, no tenseness in her jaw, so Jungeun surmises that Jiwoo’s probably not as angry as Jungeun feared.

She tests the waters. “Why’d your meeting get cancelled?”

“Because Shin Taewook’s mother had come to speak to the principal,” Jiwoo replies, “so the principal had to move our meeting to Monday.”

 _Wrong move._ Jungeun wants to smack herself in the forehead. She swallows, says, “Oh. Okay.”

“How about you?” Jiwoo asks. “How’s training?”

Jungeun blinks. She’s taken aback, but she answers anyway. “Uh, it’s been okay,” she tells Jiwoo. “I think coach is gonna prep me to compete in IMs next season.”

“IMs?” Jiwoo’s eyebrows furrow adorably. When Jungeun is about to answer, she holds up her hand, says, “Wait. I’ve got this.”

Jungeun smiles, waits and watches as Jiwoo tries to arrive at the answer.

After a moment, Jiwoo lets out a quiet aha and says, “Individual medley?”

“Ding-ding-ding,” Jungeun sing-songs.

Jiwoo does a tiny waddle in celebration, the smile on her face wide. “I’m excited for you,” she says.

Jungeun nods. “Me too.”

“I’m your number one fan, after all,” Jiwoo retakes Jungeun’s hand and laces their fingers together. “I’ll be screaming the loudest.”

Jungeun has to clench her jaw to keep herself from squealing like a schoolgirl. With how often Jiwoo makes her feel like this, it’s a wonder her teeth are still intact. “I know you will.”

 

-

 

Jungeun fell for the last person she expected.

It was the third time she’d been transferred to another school, (her principal at her old one said _transfer_ so sweetly, as if she didn’t mean _expelled_ ) and honestly, she couldn’t care less. Dropping out had always been at the back of her head, but she still cared a little bit for swimming, so here she was.

“Hi! You’re Kim Jungeun?”

Jungeun turned toward the source of the voice. She saw a girl, just a hair taller than her, smile so wide Jungeun was scared it would break her face in half. She tried not to groan. Smiles like that were usually for show, and Jungeun’s bet was that this was the poor girl tasked with showing her around.

“I’m Kim Jiwoo!” she said, holding her hand out, and boy, was this girl’s voice _loud._

Jungeun sighed. She took the offered hand and shook it. “If you’re here to give me a tour, don’t bother. They’ll probably kick me out in three months, max.”

Jiwoo’s smile dissipated into a frown. Her gaze turned serious, studying Jungeun. “You know, Jungeun—can I call you Jungeun?—I took a look at your records and asked to be put in charge of you myself.”

Jungeun scoffed.

Jiwoo was undeterred. “I know this is probably something you don’t want to hear, but I know you can do better. And I’m determined to make you stay here, Jungeun, not because I think this school will magically change you, but because you deserve better than being shuffled around.”

Jungeun opened her mouth to say something, but after she quickly realised that she had nothing to snap back with, she closed it again.

“And I’m not here to give you a tour.” Jiwoo pursed her lips. “I just wanted to tell you that the swim team is holding tryouts next week, and then be on my way.”

Jiwoo did just that; she’d walked away, not once looking back.

Jungeun blew an exhale through her lips, her hair flying from her face. This might be her most interesting stay yet.

 

-

 

They’re quiet for the rest of the way, right up until Jiwoo grabs a glass of water from her fridge and hands it over to Jungeun when she asks, “Why are you so tense?”

“Oh—hmm?” Jungeun stops mid-sip, and notices her shoulders are tight. She relaxes them. “Sorry, it’s just—I’ve kinda been expecting you to get mad at me for the past half hour.”

Jiwoo giggles and shakes her head, tucking a strand of Jungeun’s hair behind her ear, as if Jungeun’s a five year-old being silly. “I’m not going to get mad at you,” Jiwoo says, “but that doesn’t mean I approve of what you did.”

“Right.”

“That’s student council Vice President Kim Jiwoo’s take,” Jiwoo continues. “Now as your girlfriend?”

Jungeun raises an eyebrow. Jiwoo leans in to whisper something in Jungeun’s ear.

“I think you did _great,_ baby.”

Jungeun cackles and leans away, clutching her stomach. “Yeah?”

“I mean, like—we’ve been getting complaints about him for ages. Sexual harassment, bullying, racist/classist remarks.” Jiwoo takes a sip from her own drink—an iced tea, not a water. “We couldn’t really do anything about it. At least he got something.”

“Anytime, Wooming.”

“Oh, my God, Jungeun, _not_ anytime!” Jiwoo smacks her on the arm. She holds up her index and says, “Just this once. Just this once.”

“Ow!” Jungeun rubs the spot Jiwoo just hit. “Fine, fine. Just this once.”

“Good.” Jiwoo crosses her arms. “Now, miss, I think _you_ need to shower. I’ll clean your wounds and change your bandages after.”

Jungeun mock salutes. “Yes, ma’am,” she replies, before getting up and heading to the shower.

She grabs the towel she keeps in her swimming duffel and steps inside. She spots the toothbrush she keeps there, feels a little twinge in her chest. It’s so simple, but—it’s a symbol, she thinks, of how big of a part she has in Jiwoo’s life, as Jiwoo has in hers.

 

-

 

It was three weeks into Jungeun’s stay in her new school when she _maybe_ realised she had feelings for Jiwoo. _Maybe._

Jungeun was on her way to her History class when, out of nowhere, a hand appeared in front of her and stopped her in her tracks.

“Kim Jungeun!” a voice greeted, and—well, it could only really belong to one person.

“What the fuck?” Jungeun exclaimed. “Why are you here? Do you know my schedule or something?”

Jiwoo waved her hand in dismissal. “Not the point,” she’d said. “I wanted to ask you about tryouts!”

“Tryouts?”

“Yeah!”

Jungeun blinked. “Uh, they went okay. I got in. Not sure if they’ll let me compete, yet, though.”

Jiwoo put a hand to her chest, her face one of pure elation. “Oh, thank God! You know, I was really debating whether my tough girl act would work, because I figured you wouldn’t listen to me if I went ‘ _Wee~ Please join the swim team!_ ’ like I probably usually would, and I guess I was right! It worked! Oh, man, am I glad that it worked. I’m not the best at acting—oh, congratulations, by the way, Kim Jungeun! I’m sure you’re a great addition to the team! We’re lucky to have you! And I hope you find the school worth staying and swimming for!”

Jungeun tried to not let her jaw drop to the floor. She was amazed at two things, mainly: 1) the fact that Jiwoo had said all that in a single breath, and 2) the bubbly attitude that Jungeun thought was for show was … the real Jiwoo?

She had it the wrong way around?

“I really hope I can get to see you swim someday, Kim Jungeun-ssi!” Jiwoo gave her a wave. “Bye bye!”

“Bye … bye,” Jungeun mumbled.

 

-

 

When Jungeun gets out of the shower, she sees that Jiwoo had already laid out a shirt for her to change into.

Jungeun picks it up. “Moomin, Jiwoo?” she asks, looking at the print.  “Really?”

“Of course!” Jiwoo spins in her chair so that she’s looking at Jungeun. “I actually bought that like, two weeks ago, but I kept on forgetting to give it to you.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Jungeun puts it on. It was comfy, just loose enough for Jungeun to be able to sleep in.

“Cute!” Jiwoo says, putting her hands together.

“Oh so I’m cute, now?”

“Very!” Jiwoo opens up her arms. “Come here, baby, I’ll give you a big hug now that you’re all clean and fresh.”

Jungeun rolls her eyes but obliges anyway.

Jiwoo squeezes her, tight, peppers little kisses everywhere. “My Jungie smells so nice!” she says, nuzzling into Jungeun’s neck. Jungeun giggles—she’s ticklish, and maybe a little endeared.

Jiwoo ends it by finally kissing Jungeun, and it’s the nice, end-of-the-day kind of kiss, where Jungeun can feel all of the day’s stress just melt out of her. Jiwoo cups the side of Jungeun’s neck, and Jungeun bites on Jiwoo’s lower lip, making her squeak. Jiwoo pushes her away.

“I have—” she swallows. “To check on your wounds, okay?”

Jungeun nods, giving Jiwoo a last, small peck before leaning back. “Okay.”

Jungeun sits on Jiwoo’s bed, and Jiwoo grabs the first aid kit she keeps by her desk and opens it, shuffling the contents around. She sits next to Jungeun before grabbing a cotton pad and putting hydrogen peroxide on it. She dabs it onto Jungeun’s wound on her lip, and Jungeun hisses.

“Just like old times, huh?” Jiwoo asks.

“You say that as if we’re seventy,” Jungeun retorts. “But yeah, déjà vu.”

When Jungeun would land herself in a lot more trouble than she did now, Jiwoo’d be the one to tend to her injuries, mainly because 1) Jungeun hated hospitals, and 2) Jiwoo wanted to ‘ _finally_ have some use for the first aid training I had two years ago.’

Jiwoo makes sure the wounds are clean, wiping off all the dried blood on the skin surrounding, before looking at Jungeun’s nose and carefully applying a butterfly bandage on it. When it’s secured, she says, “I’m about to tell you something you’re not going to quite like.”

“Yeah?” Jungeun adjusts her position so she’s facing Jiwoo better. “What is it?”

“When you were in the shower, I got a text,” Jiwoo answers as she puts fresh gauze around Jungeun’s knuckles. “The principal and Shin Taewook’s mother want to meet you tomorrow after school.”

“Oh, _God_ ,” Jungeun groans, collapsing into Jiwoo’s mattress. “Not again. I’m sick of the whole meeting the parents thing.”

“Well, think of it this way,” Jiwoo says from across the room, putting her kit back in its place. “You’re an expert at it now.”

“But I haven’t done it in a while,” Jungeun whines.

Jiwoo tsks. “You’ll be fine, baby.” She lies down beside Jungeun, who suddenly finds Jiwoo’s laptop shoved into her lap. “Now, pick a movie.”

Jungeun rolls her eyes, but opens Jiwoo’s laptop and scrolls through Netflix anyway.

Besides, when Jiwoo’s head is on her chest and Jungeun runs her hands through Jiwoo’s hair as the opening credits of _Love Actually_ play, who is she to complain?

 

The ever-renown _To Me, You Are Perfect_ scene finally comes up, and Jiwoo is a wreck.

“Jungeun, oh my god oh my god oh my god.” She grips, _tight_ , onto Jungeun’s arm. “Rick Grimes is gonna tell her.”

Jungeun had told her _multiple_ times that Andrew Lincoln is _not_ Rick Grimes in this film, but Jiwoo seems to have not gotten the memo. “Shh, watch,” Jungeun urges.

 _But for now let me say,_ the placard reads, _without hope or agenda—_

“He’s so brave,” Jiwoo whispers. “And so sad.”

_Just because it’s Christmas—_

Jiwoo holds in a breath.

—( _And at Christmas you tell the truth_ )—

The breath comes out as a quiet giggle.

_To me, you are perfect._

“Oh.” A single tear drops from Jiwoo’s eye. Jungeun wipes it away.

_And my wasted heart will love you—_

“His _wasted_ heart, Jungie.” Jiwoo looks at her. “His _wasted_ heart.”

“I know, Jiwoo.”

— _until you look like this._

Jiwoo laughs through her tears, and it’s precious.

 

A little later, Jiwoo says, “Maybe if you’d pull that kind of cheesy stuff with me, Taewook wouldn’t have bugged me about you being a shitty girlfriend, am I right?”

Jiwoo’s waggling her eyebrows comically, lightly shoving Jungeun with her elbow, and Jungeun _knows_ she’s joking. Jiwoo giggles a little later—Jungeun also knows Jiwoo doesn’t really _expect_ anything from Jungeun as a girlfriend, but.

Huh.

 

Jiwoo falls asleep, the film still playing. Jungeun stops it, closes her laptop. She then grabs a sticky note, writes, _I went home. Love you! -J_ and puts it on Jiwoo’s forehead.

Jungeun heads home with an idea.

 

-

 

When Jiwoo confessed to Jungeun, she didn’t actually _mean_ to.

This is how it happened.

 

There was a coffee shop a little ways from campus—actually not on Jungeun’s way home, so she’d be going _farther_ —but it was cheap(er), the WiFi was good, and their croissants were to die for.

It wasn’t really a popular place for the students to hang out, which made Jungeun like it even _more_ , so imagine her surprise when almost all of the Student Council walked in one day. _Including_ Kim Jiwoo.

Jungeun picked a corner seat, so it was easy for her to remain unnoticed, but with them choosing a seat that was close to her nonetheless, she still felt uncomfortable. She kept her head down, tried to focus on her Japanese homework.

It was okay for a while—the Student Council were actually having a serious meeting, Jo Haseul at the helm, with all the confidence and composure Jungeun could only wish to have. It went on for a good hour, and Jungeun was able to focus on her homework enough to finish it. But when it adjourned, all but three members of the council remained: Jo Haseul, a girl Jungeun didn’t know, and Jiwoo.

The girl Jungeun didn’t know the name of squeezed herself next to Jiwoo and nudged her. “Spill.”

Jiwoo whined. “ _Heejin._ ”

Haseul leaned close to the two of them. “Come on, Jiwoo, tell us!”

“I couldn’t.” Jiwoo dropped her hands to her lap. “I saw her get on her stupid bike and put on her stupid helmet and she just … revved away.”

Jungeun froze.

“ _Unnie_!” The girl—Heejin—sighed. “It’s not that hard! Just ask her if she’d like to see a movie this weekend!”

Jiwoo glared at her. “Oh, you try having a crush, Heejin.”

Haseul put a hand on Jiwoo’s back. “It’s okay, Wooming. Just ask Jungeun another time.”

Jungeun choked on her sip of coffee.

Jiwoo liked her, too.

_Jiwoo liked her, too._

“I’m _scared_ , Haseul unnie! She’s—she’s got that whole bad girl thing going on, and I’m pretty sure she wants nothing to do with me. There was this one time I _literally_ saw her turn around and walk the other way when she saw me.”

 _Ugh_ , Jungeun thought. She remembered that. She remembered telling Jiyoon after, and how Jiyoon kindly told her that she probably experienced a _gay panic._ Great.

“Okay, that sucks,” Heejin replied, “but that should be okay, too! If you ask her out and she says no, then she’ll just be avoiding you like now! Nothing changes! Status quo! And _then_ you can let yourself move on. But try first.”

Jiwoo hung her head. “Next time.”

“Yay!” Heejin grabbed Jiwoo’s hands. “What’s the worst that could happen? She’s not like, gonna beat you up or whatever, right?”

At that, Jiwoo slumped her shoulders and her expression softened. “No,” she said, so softly, almost a whisper. “No, she’d never, she’s—did you guys know she’d have straight As if attendance wasn’t part of the grade? And that she’s close to breaking the school record for the 200 meter freestyle? She’s been part of the team for less than a year.”

Jungeun closed her hand into a fist, her chest squeezing. Jiwoo knew this?

Haseul let out a soft chuckle. “To think you just wanted to be assigned to her because she was hot.”

 _Oh?_ Jungeun tried to hold in her laughter.

“She _is_ , okay,” Jiwoo whined. She then put her head flat against the table. “God, why do I like her so much?”

“Well.” Heejin took another sip of her drink. “Why do you?”

Jiwoo sat back up. “Yeah, she’s hot. And _really_ smart. Athletic, too. That little thing she does when she runs her hand through her hair. I saw her rough up Lee Hwanggu but only because he was picking on a freshman. She bought same said freshman lunch the next day. She’s just—I don’t know, God, I hope she never finds out I said this.”

“Too late.”

Jungeun couldn’t do it anymore, poor girl—she decided to walk up to their table.

Jiwoo turned to face her, and Jungeun watched her face turn into one of horror. Heejin, meanwhile, had the widest of grins, and Haseul just shook her head, smiling.

“J-Jungeun!” Jiwoo sputtered. “Hey! How long have you been here?”

“Before you guys had your meeting,” Jungeun replied. “This is kind of my usual spot.”

Jiwoo covered her face with her hands. She groaned, “Jungeun, I’m so sorry you had to hear that—”

Jungeun gathered all the courage she had. “Do you want to see a movie this weekend?”

“Oh, my _God,”_ Heejin whispered.

“Huh?” Jiwoo asked, still behind her hands. Haseul had to physically pull them away from her face. “C-can you say that again?”

Jungeun smiled and put her hands inside her pocket. Her palms were starting to sweat. “I asked if you’d like to see a movie this weekend, Jiwoo.”

Heejin squealed and was clapping her hands, while Haseul settled for giving Jiwoo a friendly punch on her shoulder.

The tips of Jiwoo’s ears just got _redder_. (Jungeun didn’t even know if that was possible.) “I—are you asking _me_ out?”

Jungeun rolled her eyes. “No, I’m asking the barista over there,” she teased. “ _Yes_ , I’m asking you out.”

Haseul and Heejin stifled their laughter.

“Like on a date?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Like … a _romantic_ one?”

“Oh, my God.” Jungeun let out a laugh. Jiwoo was being so ridiculous that Jungeun felt her nervousness slowly melt away. “Yes, Jiwoo. I like you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. So—a movie? This weekend?”

“Oh! Oh, yeah—yes, Jungeun. Yes. A movie. I’d like that.”

“Okay.” Jungeun nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Jiwoo exhaled. “Uh, yeah, tomorrow.”

Jungeun smiled, still shy. She bowed to Haseul and Heejin, said, “Goodbye, sunbaenim, Heejin-ssi.” Turned to Jiwoo, waved. “Bye, Jiwoo.”

“Bye.”

As Jungeun left the café, she pretended not to hear Heejin and Haseul’s whisper-yells of excitement. Well, to be fair—she was trying not to make any of her own, either.

She was going on a _date_!

 

-

 

Jungeun gets up really, really early the next morning.

It’s sun-barely-peeking-over-the-horizon early, and Jungeun is honestly surprised that she isn’t cranky. She’s never been awake at this hour unless she hadn’t slept yet.

She’s about to head out until she realises that she left her bike at school.

“Oh, fuck,” Jungeun groans, hanging her head.

 

After picking her bike up (pulling off a successful evasion of the school security in the process), Jungeun starts to enact her plan.

Okay, so it’s not _really_ a plan—she’s just going to buy flowers and surprise Jiwoo in school. Hopefully that both makes Jiwoo’s day _and_ starts getting people off her back about dating her.

The flower shop comes into view, and Jungeun carefully parks by the curb. She wasn’t sure if she could trust the search results when they said that they would be open this early, but Jungeun enters just fine, the windchimes announcing her arrival.

“Oh, welcome!” the florist greets. She’s _young_ —can’t be older than twenty-five. “How can I help you this morning?”

“Uh.” Jungeun licks her lips, suddenly embarrassed. “Would you happen to have any sunflowers? And carnations?”

“Sure do,” the florist replies. She heads to the side, where a bunch of sunflowers sit. “How many do you need? I don’t recommend you getting a lot—you look like a student, and sunflowers are pricey.”

 _Oh._ Crap, Jungeun didn’t anticipate the _prices._ The bouquet she saw and was going for had a lot of them. “Would it still look good with the carnations if there were just three?”

“Of course! We’ll make it work.” The florist picks three stems, and heads to the carnations. “What colour, dear?”

“Pink and white, please.”

“Good choice.”

She hums while arranging them into a bouquet, adding other, smaller flowers and plants to complement Jungeun’s selection.

“Did your brother send you out this early in the morning so he could surprise his girlfriend?” the lady asks, her hands still skilfully setting the flowers in their place.

It takes a moment before Jungeun understands what she means. “Ah, no,” she replies, putting her hand to the back of her neck. “They’re—uh, I’m buying them. For _my_ girlfriend.”

“Aw, how sweet.” The florist smiles at her, then asks, “Colour for the wrap?”

“Thank you, and—oh, the brown one looks nice,” Jungeun says, pointing. “The one with the white inside.”

“You have an eye for this,” the florist notes. “What’s she like?”

“She? Oh—my girlfriend?”

“Mhm.”

“She’s—well she’s definitely _nothing_ like me, that’s for sure,” Jungeun begins. “But that’s what I like about her? She’s really bright, has a huge smile. Bubbly. And really affectionate? I don’t know—it’s like if you made a puppy into a grown woman.”

The florist laughs. “Well, the blooms suit her.”

Jungeun spent a significant amount of time the previous night looking up the language of flowers. At least she was right. Jungeun returns the smile. “Thanks.”

“Here you go,” she says, handing Jungeun the bouquet. It’s beautiful; she’s done an amazing job.

“Thank you so much,” Jungeun says.

“You’re welcome,” the lady replies, smile still warm. Then, “I hope she likes them.”

Jungeun looks at the flowers in her arms. “I hope so, too.”

Today was gonna be a good day, and Jungeun hopes nothing could change that.

 

When Jungeun arrives at school, she hears Jiwoo before she sees her.

She’s at her locker, fixing her things for the day when a sudden, “ _Juuuuungiiiieeee!”_ erupts from the hall.

Jiwoo pretty much slams into Jungeun and squeezes her into a hug.

“Shh, Wooming,” Jungeun chides, but she’s not _really_ mad.

“What’s that?” Jiwoo asks, peering into Jungeun’s locker.

Jungeun smiles. She grabs the bouquet out and hands it over to Jiwoo. “For you.”

“For—” Jiwoo gasps. “ _What?_ ”

Jiwoo takes the flowers in her hands, her mouth opened in a wide ‘o’. But when she looks back up to Jungeun, her lips quickly turn downwards and her eyes well with tears. She takes in a deep breath.

Jungeun knows this wind-up more than anyone.

“Oh, baby,” Jungeun says, taking the flowers from Jiwoo and embracing her, putting Jiwoo’s head to her chest.

That’s when the sobbing begins. “You brought me _flowers_.”

“I didn’t want them to make you cry, you know.”

“No, I—” Jiwoo looks up at Jungeun for a moment, then buries herself again. “You’ve never brought me flowers before, and we’re—we’re in _school_ , and R-Rick Grimes, and our conversation last night, and—”

“Shh, Jiwoo-yah,” Jungeun urges. The murmurs around them seem to be getting louder, people walking by them slowing down to look at them.

Jiwoo’s sobs eventually die down to sniffling. “I love you,” she mumbles into Jungeun’s shoulder.

Jungeun’s heartbeat picks up the slightest bit. It’s still a bit surreal. “I love you, too.”

Jiwoo extricates herself from Jungeun, wiping her face adorably. She takes the bouquet back and holds it to her chest.

“Come with me?” she asks. “I’ll put these in—in the SC office, and then you can walk me to class?”

“Of course.”

 

They do exactly that, Jiwoo wrapping herself around Jungeun’s arm the entire time.

They find an empty mason jar—Jiwoo mumbles, “Probably one of Heejin’s, I’ll just tell her about it later”—fill it halfway with water, and put the flowers inside.

Both their classes are on the third floor, just three rooms apart, so Jungeun drops Jiwoo off with a kiss on her cheek and heads to her own.

Which just happens to be a class she shares with Jiyoon.

She raises an eyebrow and gestures in front of her. _What happened to your shirt_? she mouths.

Jungeun looks down. There’s patches darker than the rest of her top, thanks to Jiwoo’s tears. She rolls her eyes, turns back to Jiyoon, mouths, _Long story._

 

At lunch, she gets a couple messages from Jiwoo.

**wooms [12.13pm]**

good luck at the meeting later!!!

not like you’ll need any tbh

you’ll kill it!!!

love you :D

Jungeun shakes her head and gives a fond smile.

**You [12.15pm]**

thanks, babe

love you too <3

 

-

 

One of Jungeun’s favourite moments with Jiwoo was also one of the quietest.

She had an exam coming up, so after school one day, she’d decided to … try to relax.

Her Korean textbook sat in front of her, open on a chapter she’d been having difficulty with. She highlighted a key phrase before putting her pen down and picking up her cigarette and taking a puff. She blew out the smoke and tapped the stick to get rid of the excess ash.

The only place she could really do this is the swimming team’s girls’ locker room, because a) the pool—and by extension, this locker room—was pretty far away from the rest of the school, so no one really came here; and b) the acoustics made it easy for her to know if someone was coming, so she could run to the nearest shower, turn the knob, and let the steam do the work. It wasn’t the reason Jungeun was on the team, but it did have its perks.

But too soon, she got a text from her girlfriend that she was nearby and wanted to go home together instead of separately, like they’d agreed on earlier in the day.

“Mother _fucker_ ,” Jungeun said. She had to pretty much _shove_ all of her stuff into her backpack before hurriedly taking one last drag before she trampled the stick underfoot. She took two breath mints into her mouth and spritzed perfume onto herself before rushing out the door.

“Hey, Jung— _ooh._ You haven’t changed yet?”

Jungeun watched how Jiwoo’s eyes raked her body, amused. She was still in her swimsuit because she’d left her change of clothes by the bleachers, but Jiwoo didn’t seem to mind.

“You like?” Jungeun asked, raising a teasing eyebrow.

“How your shoulders look …” Jiwoo smooched her fingers, imitating a chef. “Mwah!”

All Jungeun could do was laugh. She picked up her shirt and shorts, opting to just wear it over her suit.

When she finished, she walked to where Jiwoo’s waiting, and tilts her head up for a kiss.

Jiwoo obliged, putting her fingers to Jungeun’s chin, her lips soft and sweet—as they always were. But she pulled away all too soon, her nose scrunched. “You still stink, Jungeun-ah.”

“Sorry, baby,” Jungeun replied, pouting. “You kinda arrived earlier than I was expecting. Didn’t have time to properly get rid of it.”

Jiwoo’s nose scrunches further. “You still reek of chlorine, too.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Jiwoo giggled and shoved her away. “Go take a shower first! I’ll wait here.”

“Okay, baby, I will.”

As Jungeun headed back to the locker room, she couldn’t help but feel a shift, like something falling into place. Maybe it was Jiwoo caring about Jungeun enough to not force her to quit, maybe it was Jungeun caring enough for Jiwoo to want to quit in the first place. It’s a small and a huge thing at the same time, and that’s why Jungeun was so sure.

She loved Kim Jiwoo.

 

-

 

Jungeun’s fiddling with her phone, leaning on her bike when Jiwoo exits their building.

“Jungeun,” Jiwoo calls, and Jungeun looks up to see her smiling and waving.

“Hi, baby,” Jungeun calls, before greeting her with a kiss. “How was your day?”

“Pretty okay,” Jiwoo replies, already reaching for the extra helmet Jungeun keeps. Well—Jungeun thinks it’s not even an extra helmet at this point. It’s Jiwoo’s—it’s peach coloured, with strawberry and penguin stickers, garish against the monochrome of Jungeun’s bike. Not like she cares, though. “And your meeting?”

“Taewook literally understated what I did to him.” Jungeun snorts, rolling her eyes. “Because he—”

“Didn’t want to admit he got beaten up by a girl,” they say at the same time.

Jiwoo laughs, says, “Of course.”

“So the principal just gave me two months detention.” Jungeun shrugs. “Nothing new.”

“And swim training?”

“I’ll arrange something on the weekends with Coach,” Jungeun replies, getting on her bike and putting her legs on either side of the seat. She feels a weight shift behind her and knows Jiwoo’s safely on, too. She puts her own helmet on and starts her engine.

“Where to?”

“There’s a new yogurt place near the park,” Jiwoo replies. “Wanna check it out?”

“Sure.” Jungeun revs before looking behind and asking, “Let’s go?”

“Let’s go!” Jiwoo exclaims, her grin bright and wide.

Jungeun faces forward again and feels Jiwoo wrap her arms around her and lean into her back. It’s familiar and warm and safe.

She breathes a sigh of relief.

At least _today_ was—finally—a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](http://twitter.com/mediumcoelis), [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/pisceshorizon)


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